Tag: The View

Nottingham Venues 24 to 25

The Rescue Rooms are located on Goldsmith St nearby Nottingham Trent University. The venue opened in 2003 and consists of two separate rooms, to the left is the bar area and the long thin gig room is on the right with a current capacity of 450. I have witnessed three gigs in total there.

On 05/07/08 we headed there for a local band showcase night. First on stage were Love Ends Disaster! who formed at Loughborough University who were followed by My Accident Captain. O Lovely Lie featuring siblings Gemma and Rich Upton were on next and created a fine wall of sound. The main band were Lo Ego who subsequently broke up later that year.

On 06/04/12 we went to see the legendary Flipper who shamefully prior to the gig had never appeared on my radar. They formed in the Californian punk scene in 1979 and like many bands they been through various break ups and different incarnations. They were unpopular in those early days as they played a version of slowed down punk in direct contrast to the speedier hardcore brand which was more prevalent at that time. They were touted as a major influence on Nirvana resulting in their former bassist Chris Novoselic playing with them in the 2000’s.

They were terrific live and the sludgiest band I have ever seen (in a good way!) and it reminded me of early Stooges material, I am just glad I got the chance to see them once in my lifetime. They were supported by local band Grey Hairs.

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Flipper. Image Credit Discogs

My first visit there on 24/08/06 was to see the Vines from Sydney, Australia. They formed in 1994 and I first picked up on them via their excellent debut album Highly Evolved. I have always quantified them in the garage rock category.

A couple of years earlier it had looked somewhat unlikely that the band would ever tour again because the lead singer Craig Nicholls had been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. Unexpectedly then this tour was announced so we grabbed a ticket for the sold-out gig.

They produced a superb set and they had five or six standout tracks with my favourite being ‘Outtatheway!’ with its crackling intro and gradually building crescendo, it is an archetypal sweaty mosh pit song and I naturally answered the call to arms in that regard!

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The Vines. Image Credit Fanpop

The touted support band was the View who the organisers rather cheekily moved to the next-door venue Stealth to play their set after the Vines had completed theirs. To continue on the cheek angle, they tried to additionally charge us but we blagged our way into the venue.  

Stealth was a rather soulless metallic nightclub with a tiny stage for the band, though in their defence they did play Billy Bragg’s ‘New England’ at immense volume, which sounded fresh as a daisy that night!

It was a very early tour for the Dundee boys and the first time I had witnessed them, and their chaotic stagecraft and indecipherable Scottish brogue was an interesting sight. They attracted a boisterous enthusiastic audience. It had been a long evening so we bailed about halfway through their set but vowed I would endeavour to catch them again at a yet unspecified later date, and I was true to that pledge!

Manchester Venue 26 – Club Academy

The fourth and final venue within the Academy complex is Club Academy. The venue is located downstairs with stairs heading down to the venue to the right of the ground floor bar. In the 90’s the venue was called the Cellar nightclub before turning into a singular music venue in the early 2000’s.

I wish we had known of the existence of the nightclub at that time as we were often searching for a late bar before catching the 1.24am train home. I had seen those stairs many times but thought they headed down to another non-public area of the building complex.

At the point in time across the road was the now disappeared Jabez Clegg pub which we frequented regularly. I was unaware that they used to have the odd gig upstairs. I recall Gordon Gibson, proprietor of Preston’s legendary Action Records telling me that he once was very fortunate to catch a private set in that very room by Natalie Merchant, 10000 Maniacs lead singer.

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Jabez Clegg Pub. Image Credit manchesterhistory.net

The capacity of Club Academy is 650, slightly larger than Academy 3 and is the most academic type venue of the four with their school reminiscent corridors leading to the loos. The stage is at the bottom and bars to the left and it has been expanded since my first visit there.      

I have attended five gigs there in total and that brings the total across all of Academy venues to 88.About five years ago I thought it would be an absolute shoo in to achieve the century however despite a huge increase in my gig attendance my visits to the Academies have been sporadic due to so many other competing venues constantly opening in the city.

My first visit was on 26/04/07 was to see the mercurial Marie McKee, previously lead singer of Lone Justice. There was always a hint of the diva about her, but she has the most electrifying voice. She wandered on with her backing band including her husband and early in the set launched briefly into singing acapella which was compelling. Her recent recordings had a country tint about them, and it was an enjoyable gig.

On 09/12/11 Death in Vegas were back in town for their first tour for a few years. The pubs were extremely busy with Christmas do’s in full flow.

Around the time of their two seminal albums the Contino Sessions and Scorpio Rising at the turn of the century they were an utterly absorbing live act. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite kick it that night as they concentrated heavily on their more dance-oriented material. It was a sold-out gig and it had attracted many that I would quantify in the ‘undesirable’ category.    

There was a breakdown in communication post gig which resulted in us catching the late choo-choo which I think must qualify as the busiest train I have ever encountered and as a result we were very relieved to arrive home that night.

In 2015 I witnessed the young scamps from Dundee, The View. They were in equal parts frenetic, chaotic but always engaging and ‘Superstar Tradesmen’ was as ever the highlight. There are elements of their lyrics in that track that mirror the story in my most loved Iain Banks novel ‘Espedair Street’ which relates to a rock star making it big and the corresponding impact on his childhood sweetheart. He remains my favourite author with his stunning imagination and caustic wit and it was the cruel hand of cancer that took him from us far too soon.

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Iain Banks Espedair Street novel. Image Credit Wikipedia

The following year we saw Electric Six on their annual winter tour. They had their moments, but it was a diminishing return from the startingly good impression they made the first time I witnessed them.   

My last appearance was to see the old punk stalwarts Slaughter and the Dogs from down the road in Wythenshawe, who supported Sex Pistols at their famous Lesser Free Trade Hill gig in 1976. It was unfortunately a rather limp performance from them on the night that I saw them.